Update 10-01-19 8:45AM EST
Balancing the Economy
There are many game theories on how to create a stable player economy. On a private shard like ours, Mithril and I feel that the most stable model is one that is based on time. To that end we are balancing out the crafting and harvesting skills with the following goals in mind:
One, that 1 reagent can be harvested at the same rate as 1 arrow and 1 bandage can be crafted. Obviously reagents are a single step process and arrows and bandages are a multi step process and this will require some finagaling to accomplish. However, the final goal is to make sure that the TIME to produce these three core items is roughly the same.
The rate of usage, for these three items, on a UO shard is also roughly equal, so this creates our first “standard measurement” for the economy.
Two, that the amount of time it takes to harvest 100 resources is the same amount of time to turn those resources into a final product. So if it takes X time to mine and smelt 100 ingots, it will take the same X time to turn all of those 100 ingots into armor or weapons.
This then creates simple calculations:
All resources can be priced equally
All crafted items can be priced based on the cost of the resources x 2
This is clearly very simplified, and player economies are fluid things, yet, this method will eventually allow a balanced economy to develop where what hunters are willing to pay for arrows, bandages or reagents will drive all other costs with equal emphasis across most crafted items. Quirky exceptions exist naturally, don’t get distracted by oddball widget A of R, it will either be standardized or left to fester under the weight of its individuality.
Now, at least a few of you are going to have a million questions on details and theory. And while I enjoy discussing game design theory, they are long and complex discussion that I can’t dedicate the time to. Hopefully, this post satisfies most of the rest of you, if not, the proof will be in the pudding.
This design is based on the ASSUMPTION that 5 seconds of effort is worth 3 gold, or approximately 2100 gold per hour. Please understand that this 3 gold is a GUESS. This price is additionally influenced by what NPCs buy/sell at, and how much gold can be made hunting. Resources might balance out to as low as 2 gold each or go as high as 5 or 6 before everything settles down. We will be reviewing the buy/sell prices as well as the loot drops over the next few weeks.
Harvest Skills
In general, harvest skills are standardized so that 5 seconds of time = 1 resource. At GM skill, you accrue 2 items every 10 seconds. Below GM skill, you have a chance of failure based on min/max skill required and may collect nothing for a given 10 second interval. Significant changes to the system are noted below.
Butchering/Herding
Craft Skills
In general, craft skills are standardized so that items take 5 seconds to craft per base resource required to craft it. For example, if an item requires 10 ingots, it will take 50 seconds to craft.
Some exceptions:
Alchemy/Glassblowing
Balancing the Economy
There are many game theories on how to create a stable player economy. On a private shard like ours, Mithril and I feel that the most stable model is one that is based on time. To that end we are balancing out the crafting and harvesting skills with the following goals in mind:
One, that 1 reagent can be harvested at the same rate as 1 arrow and 1 bandage can be crafted. Obviously reagents are a single step process and arrows and bandages are a multi step process and this will require some finagaling to accomplish. However, the final goal is to make sure that the TIME to produce these three core items is roughly the same.
The rate of usage, for these three items, on a UO shard is also roughly equal, so this creates our first “standard measurement” for the economy.
Two, that the amount of time it takes to harvest 100 resources is the same amount of time to turn those resources into a final product. So if it takes X time to mine and smelt 100 ingots, it will take the same X time to turn all of those 100 ingots into armor or weapons.
This then creates simple calculations:
All resources can be priced equally
All crafted items can be priced based on the cost of the resources x 2
This is clearly very simplified, and player economies are fluid things, yet, this method will eventually allow a balanced economy to develop where what hunters are willing to pay for arrows, bandages or reagents will drive all other costs with equal emphasis across most crafted items. Quirky exceptions exist naturally, don’t get distracted by oddball widget A of R, it will either be standardized or left to fester under the weight of its individuality.
Now, at least a few of you are going to have a million questions on details and theory. And while I enjoy discussing game design theory, they are long and complex discussion that I can’t dedicate the time to. Hopefully, this post satisfies most of the rest of you, if not, the proof will be in the pudding.
This design is based on the ASSUMPTION that 5 seconds of effort is worth 3 gold, or approximately 2100 gold per hour. Please understand that this 3 gold is a GUESS. This price is additionally influenced by what NPCs buy/sell at, and how much gold can be made hunting. Resources might balance out to as low as 2 gold each or go as high as 5 or 6 before everything settles down. We will be reviewing the buy/sell prices as well as the loot drops over the next few weeks.
Harvest Skills
In general, harvest skills are standardized so that 5 seconds of time = 1 resource. At GM skill, you accrue 2 items every 10 seconds. Below GM skill, you have a chance of failure based on min/max skill required and may collect nothing for a given 10 second interval. Significant changes to the system are noted below.
Butchering/Herding
- Previously, butchering gave you all the resources at the end of the process. If anything happened in that time to stop the process, that time was wasted and you got no resources. This has been changed: You now have the potential to get 2 items every 10 seconds until the corpse is out of resources, instead of all at the end. When below GM skill, you have <skill> percent chance of success in any 10 second period to get 2 items. If you fail, you get 0 resources for that 10 seconds.
- Milling is 2 items per 10 seconds. You now have a chance of failure during milling, based on skill. Anyone with >60 skill should succeed 100% of the time.
- Mill 5 wheat -> 1 sack of flour with 10 uses. Including gather time, this gives 1 use of flour per 5 seconds.
- Mill 1 coffee bean -> 2 satchels of coffee grounds. Including gather time, this gives 1 satchel per 5 seconds.
- The chance of a gnome/crow stealing your items has been removed to keep timing consistent with other harvest skills.
- Max skill for alchemy reagents was previously 110, but since we don't go above 100 skill, I have lowered the max skill to 100 so that a player with GM skill consistently gets 2 per 10 seconds.
- Spinning and weaving is now farming, not tailoring. It will take you 50 seconds total to gather, spin, and weave 10 cloth. Timing is as follows: Gather 5 flax/cotton/wool in 25 seconds. Spin 5 flax/cotton/wool to 5 thread/yarn in 12.5 seconds. Weave 5 thread/yarn to 1 bolt of cloth in 12.5 seconds. One bolt of cloth has 10 cloth (instead of 50). This makes 5 seconds per 1 cloth to gather, spin, and weave.
- Fish: 2 per 10 seconds. But you have a chance to instead pull up boots, seaweed, black pearl, special fishing net, big fish, or prized/wondrous/truly rare/peculiar fish. So all of these must be considered special resources and not the standardized 3 gold per item, since they take longer than 5 seconds to collect.
- 1 fish -> 2 fish steaks instantaneously.
- Min skill to get black pearl or seaweed is now 60. You have a tiny chance at 60 skill, increasing to 20% chance at GM skill.
- All craft skills now use boards instead of logs now! So you must mill logs to boards.
- Logs are milled at a rate of 2 logs per 10 seconds, but you get 2 boards per log now. 10 seconds of chopping + 10 seconds of milling will net you 4 boards in 20 seconds, = 1 board per 5 seconds.
- You now have a chance of failure to mill logs into boards. This is based on skill level. Players with >60 skill should succeed 100% of the time.
- Max skill for reagents was previously 110, but since we don't go above 100 skill, I have lowered the max skill to 100 so that a player with GM skill consistently gets 2 per 10 seconds.
- Ores are smelted at a rate of 2 ore per 10 seconds, but you get 2 ingots per 1 ore. 10 seconds of mining + 10 seconds of smelting will net you 4 ingots in 20 seconds, = 1 ingot per 5 seconds.
- All ores above iron ore: These all have a max skill > 100. So even at GM you will have some chance of failure for any 10 second interval, for both mining and smelting. This is by intention so these ores are priced a bit higher.
- Same with most colored granite.
- Max skill for necro reagents was previously 110, but since we don't go above 100 skill, I have lowered the max skill to 100 so that a player with GM skill consistently gets 2 per 10 seconds.
Craft Skills
In general, craft skills are standardized so that items take 5 seconds to craft per base resource required to craft it. For example, if an item requires 10 ingots, it will take 50 seconds to craft.
Some exceptions:
- If the item also requires other crafted items (for example, requiring barrel staves to make a keg). These items do not count toward the total time it takes to craft the item, because you or someone already spent time crafting the needed resource. Minimum of 5 seconds total to craft an item with pre-crafted resource requirements.
- Shafts, arrows, and bolts -- see bowcrafting section below.
Alchemy/Glassblowing
- Standard.
- Bottles and jars are pre-crafted so they do not count toward craft time.
- Artistry is a specialized skill. 5 seconds for any required resource, even pre-crafted ones.
- Standard.
- Kindling: 5 seconds to make 2 kindling from one board
- Shafts: 2 shafts per board in 5 seconds
- Arrows, bolts: 1 shaft + 1 feather = 3 arrows in 5 seconds. Makes 1 arrow per 5 seconds when including shaft craft time plus feather and wood gathering. Arrows are intended to sell at ~3 gold.
- Everything else is standard timing.
- Standard.
- Kegs require barrel staves, barrel hoops, and barrel lid. 5 seconds total to craft since these are all pre-crafted items.
- Disabled, needs blank maps craftable by inscription. Will be added to inscription skill in future.
- Anything using harvested resources only (including fruit, which is not harvestable yet): standard timing.
- Cooking items that require pre-prepared items (i.e. dough, unbaked pies, etc): Pre-prepared items do not count toward time. 5 seconds per other harvestable resource required.
- Standard timing.
- Blank scrolls: 5 seconds to craft 1 scroll per board
- Blank scrolls do not count toward craft time for this or any other craft skill.
- Standard timing.
- Cloth requirement for carpets/rugs cut in half to make it more manageable.
- Spinning/weaving moved to farming.
- Making bandages: 2 bandages from 1 cloth every 5 seconds. Makes bandages worth 3 gold if cloth is worth 3 gold.
- Standard timing.
- Gems count as a 'base resource' and add 5 seconds to craft time each.
- Items that require other tinkered items to craft and no other resources: 5 seconds total to craft item.